The National Stadium of Chile, ready for Santiago 2023

The National Stadium of Chile, which will host the XIX. The Pan American Games, the most important sporting event on the continent, is a unique place all the more because it will be the first “place of memory” to be held and witness the exploits of thousands of sports cars.

In the memory of its walls there are applause, exclamations of joy, tears of unforgettable happiness, but also screams of pain, tears of fear and whispers of the saddest and most tragic collective memory of one country, Chile, and of the bloody dictatorship that used it as a prison and a torture chamber.

The scene of the final of the 1962 World Cup, in which Chile achieved its best historical classification – third place -, is part of the heart of the capital: sports stars of the size of Pelé – who raised his second world crown above his grass -, and music such as Bono (U2), Iron Maiden and Daddy Yankee, along with thousands of Chilean citizens imprisoned in the repression that followed General Augusto Pinochet’s coup against the democratic government of socialist Salvador Allende.

Exactly fifty years later, thousands of sports fans will take the places occupied by those imprisoned men and women to enjoy in their premises and surroundings almost seven thousand athletes of 41 nationalities who will participate in the games for which a million visitors are expected in the premises and more than two hundred million will witness it on television.

“It is a national pride,” said the President of the Republic, Gabriel Bóric, just ten days ago, when he inaugurated the renovation of the hall, with a sense of relief after months of work against time, all in celebration of the Pan American Games, Santiago 2023.

Built in 1937 in the popular neighborhood of Macul, it suffered from criticism and mistrust from the beginning: it was dubbed the “white elephant” because it was believed that it would never be able to be filled.

With a new look, the National Stadium will host, as part of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état, the most important multi-sport event held in Chile.